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Laptop SSD Cache Non-Functional

megalodonkatsu
By megalodonkatsu
in Storage Devices
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Go to solution Solved by kirashi,
6 minutes ago, megalodonkatsu said:

Thanks for the reply; I have an Asus S46C, bought in Taiwan, so I'm not sure if a similar or different version of the same model is sold here in North America.

Sadly, ASUS does not believe in customers repairing their products, as they do not provide publicly accessible service manuals. However, the good news is that there are quite a few guides from users floating around the internet if you search "ASUS S46C disassembly" in Google. Below is a screenshot with the location of what I believe is the tiny mSATA cache drive circled in red. Yes, it's a lot of work, but if you want to get that drive out of there, this is the only way.

http://glogicforum.blogspot.ca/2015/05/asus-s46c-disassembly-steps.html

image.png.8af4b1e8b32d8452de158a588fae3e9d.png

 

Posted

My laptop has a 24GB mSata SSD in it, which is slotted in a non-user-accessible spot in my laptop. I've tried to open it up a couple of times here and there when I feel adventurous, but could not figure out how to access the slot to remove it. I want to ask if there is any way to hide it in Windows 10 so that it is undetected by the system while still in the slot. As in, opening up disk manager won't prompt me to initialize a broken drive, and not show up in task manager, etc.

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No you can't. Laptops dont support drive hot-swap, so it will instantly shut down if you unplug any internal drive from it.

CPU: i7-2600K 4751MHz 1.44V (software) --> 1.47V at the back of the socket Motherboard: Asrock Z77 Extreme4 (BCLK: 103.3MHz) CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 RAM: Adata XPG 2x8GB DDR3 (XMP: 2133MHz 10-11-11-30 CR2, custom: 2203MHz 10-11-10-26 CR1 tRFC:230 tREFI:14000) GPU: Asus GTX 1070 Dual (Super Jetstream vbios, +70(2025-2088MHz)/+400(8.8Gbps)) SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB (main boot drive), Transcend SSD370 128GB PSU: Seasonic X-660 80+ Gold Case: Antec P110 Silent, 5 intakes 1 exhaust Monitor: AOC G2460PF 1080p 144Hz (150Hz max w/ DP, 121Hz max w/ HDMI) TN panel Keyboard: Logitech G610 Orion (Cherry MX Blue) with SteelSeries Apex M260 keycaps Mouse: BenQ Zowie FK1

 

Model: HP Omen 17 17-an110ca CPU: i7-8750H (0.125V core & cache, 50mV SA undervolt) GPU: GTX 1060 6GB Mobile (+80/+450, 1650MHz~1750MHz 0.78V~0.85V) RAM: 8+8GB DDR4-2400 18-17-17-39 2T Storage: HP EX920 1TB PCIe x4 M.2 SSD + Crucial MX500 1TB 2.5" SATA SSD, 128GB Toshiba PCIe x2 M.2 SSD (KBG30ZMV128G) gone cooking externally, 1TB Seagate 7200RPM 2.5" HDD (ST1000LM049-2GH172) left outside Monitor: 1080p 126Hz IPS G-sync

 

Desktop benching:

Cinebench R15 Single thread:168 Multi-thread: 833 

SuperPi (v1.5 from Techpowerup, PI value output) 16K: 0.100s 1M: 8.255s 32M: 7m 45.93s

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1 minute ago, Jurrunio said:

No you can't. Laptops dont support drive hot-swap, so it will instantly shut down if you unplug any internal drive from it.

Well I mean, my laptop has a 2.5" HDD and an mSata SSD cache. I've used the laptop for about 5 years now, and its mSata cache has since failed. I've left the SSD in there because I can't get to it as it is blocked off under the back panel. Since I've now swapped out the HDD for an SSD, and I'm looking for a way to permanently disable the cache drive, which again, has failed and is non-functional, in Windows.

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47 minutes ago, megalodonkatsu said:

Well I mean, my laptop has a 2.5" HDD and an mSata SSD cache. I've used the laptop for about 5 years now, and its mSata cache has since failed. I've left the SSD in there because I can't get to it as it is blocked off under the back panel. Since I've now swapped out the HDD for an SSD, and I'm looking for a way to permanently disable the cache drive, which again, has failed and is non-functional, in Windows.

Why bother? It's dead, to the machine it's the same as being unplugged. It wont detect q dead drive just because the slot is physocally occupied.

CPU: i7-2600K 4751MHz 1.44V (software) --> 1.47V at the back of the socket Motherboard: Asrock Z77 Extreme4 (BCLK: 103.3MHz) CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 RAM: Adata XPG 2x8GB DDR3 (XMP: 2133MHz 10-11-11-30 CR2, custom: 2203MHz 10-11-10-26 CR1 tRFC:230 tREFI:14000) GPU: Asus GTX 1070 Dual (Super Jetstream vbios, +70(2025-2088MHz)/+400(8.8Gbps)) SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB (main boot drive), Transcend SSD370 128GB PSU: Seasonic X-660 80+ Gold Case: Antec P110 Silent, 5 intakes 1 exhaust Monitor: AOC G2460PF 1080p 144Hz (150Hz max w/ DP, 121Hz max w/ HDMI) TN panel Keyboard: Logitech G610 Orion (Cherry MX Blue) with SteelSeries Apex M260 keycaps Mouse: BenQ Zowie FK1

 

Model: HP Omen 17 17-an110ca CPU: i7-8750H (0.125V core & cache, 50mV SA undervolt) GPU: GTX 1060 6GB Mobile (+80/+450, 1650MHz~1750MHz 0.78V~0.85V) RAM: 8+8GB DDR4-2400 18-17-17-39 2T Storage: HP EX920 1TB PCIe x4 M.2 SSD + Crucial MX500 1TB 2.5" SATA SSD, 128GB Toshiba PCIe x2 M.2 SSD (KBG30ZMV128G) gone cooking externally, 1TB Seagate 7200RPM 2.5" HDD (ST1000LM049-2GH172) left outside Monitor: 1080p 126Hz IPS G-sync

 

Desktop benching:

Cinebench R15 Single thread:168 Multi-thread: 833 

SuperPi (v1.5 from Techpowerup, PI value output) 16K: 0.100s 1M: 8.255s 32M: 7m 45.93s

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37 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

Why bother? It's dead, to the machine it's the same as being unplugged. It wont detect q dead drive just because the slot is physocally occupied.

Because it is still detected as Disk 1 in task manager, and still prompts "initialize disk" in disk manager. Windows itself detects a drive, but when I try to initialize it, it gives me the error message, "The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error". Other disk manager programs, such as MiniTool Partition Wizard, shows it as a "Bad Disk".

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48 minutes ago, megalodonkatsu said:

Because it is still detected as Disk 1 in task manager, and still prompts "initialize disk" in disk manager. Windows itself detects a drive, but when I try to initialize it, it gives me the error message, "The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error". Other disk manager programs, such as MiniTool Partition Wizard, shows it as a "Bad Disk".

What laptop model number do you have? If it's a Dell, HP, or Lenovo, I may be able to get a service manual so you know how to take it apart to remove the cache drive.

Desktop: KiRaShi-Intel-2022 (i5-12600K, RTX2060) Mobile: OnePlus 5T | Koodo - 75GB Data + Data Rollover for $45/month
Laptop: Dell XPS 15 9560 (the real 15" MacBook Pro that Apple didn't make) Tablet: iPad Mini 5 | Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 10.1
Camera: Canon M6 Mark II | Canon Rebel T1i (500D) | Canon SX280 | Panasonic TS20D Music: Spotify Premium (CIRCA '08)

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3 minutes ago, kirashi said:

What laptop model number do you have? If it's a Dell, HP, or Lenovo, I may be able to get a service manual so you know how to take it apart to remove the cache drive.

Thanks for the reply; I have an Asus S46C, bought in Taiwan, so I'm not sure if a similar or different version of the same model is sold here in North America.

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6 minutes ago, megalodonkatsu said:

Thanks for the reply; I have an Asus S46C, bought in Taiwan, so I'm not sure if a similar or different version of the same model is sold here in North America.

Sadly, ASUS does not believe in customers repairing their products, as they do not provide publicly accessible service manuals. However, the good news is that there are quite a few guides from users floating around the internet if you search "ASUS S46C disassembly" in Google. Below is a screenshot with the location of what I believe is the tiny mSATA cache drive circled in red. Yes, it's a lot of work, but if you want to get that drive out of there, this is the only way.

http://glogicforum.blogspot.ca/2015/05/asus-s46c-disassembly-steps.html

image.png.8af4b1e8b32d8452de158a588fae3e9d.png

 

Desktop: KiRaShi-Intel-2022 (i5-12600K, RTX2060) Mobile: OnePlus 5T | Koodo - 75GB Data + Data Rollover for $45/month
Laptop: Dell XPS 15 9560 (the real 15" MacBook Pro that Apple didn't make) Tablet: iPad Mini 5 | Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 10.1
Camera: Canon M6 Mark II | Canon Rebel T1i (500D) | Canon SX280 | Panasonic TS20D Music: Spotify Premium (CIRCA '08)

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